Kyle Katarn
Kyle Katarn was a famous human Jedi and Rebel operative from Sulon. He was a former Republic and later Imperial stormtrooper who defected to the Rebellion. Often paired with fellow Rebel agent and smuggler Jan Ors, he performed many covert missions for the Rebel Alliance and later the New Republic, including the sabotage of the Dark Trooper Project. While on The Rebellion, Katarn was informed of his Force sensitivity, and taught himself to become a Jedi while in search of the Valley of the Jedi. While on this journey, he confronted the dark side within both himself and in the form of Dark Jedi Jerec and his minions. Defeating them, Katarn went on to become a Jedi Master, teaching in the New Jedi Order. He participated in the offensives against the Yuuzhan Vong and became a part of the Jedi High Council. Biography Early life Kyle Katarn was born in 14 BBY to Morgan and Patricia Katarn, farmers from the Sullust colony moon of Sulon. Growing up on the farm, Katarn had a brother of sorts in his father's custom-made labor droid, WeeGee. As a result, Katarn became one of the few Humans in the Galaxy fluent in the electronic language of droidspeak. Serving The Empire Katarn enrolled for education at the Imperial Academy on Carida when his mother was killed by a malfunctioning BT-16 perimeter security droid. Living out on the rim, he had few other opportunities to obtain an education. Katarn began to suspect his Force potential, a trait passed to him by his father, during a raid on a Rebel asteroid base; he experienced several premonitions that saved the lives of many of his strike team members. While on the mission, Katarn also met Jan Ors, an agent for the Rebellion. Katarn and Ors were on opposite sides of the war, but they experienced a strange connection that led Katarn to spare her life as well as the lives of many of the station's inhabitants. As a result of the success of his mission, he became a decorated Imperial stormtrooper officer, but his father, unbeknownst to him, was a supporter of the Rebel Alliance. Following this last mission, which was his Omega Exercise, Katarn learned that his father had been killed in a suspected Rebel raid on his homeworld of Sulon. Katarn, recalling the lives he spared on the asteroid base, became extremely hateful towards the Rebellion, believing them to be murderers. Defection Putting his grief aside for the time, Katarn took a pleasure cruise on the Star of Empire, his last bit of freedom before officially becoming an officer in the Imperial navy. It was while on this ship that he met Lando Calrissian, and ran into Jan Ors for the second time. After a brief chase and a brawl with some of Ors's fellow agents, Katarn's attention was grabbed when Ors dropped the name Sulon. Ors showed Katarn footage from the battle there that had been obtained by a reporter and her loyal droid. She explained to him that it was in fact the Imperials who had staged the attack. They had painted Rebel insignias on their ships to make it seem as if the Rebels had been the aggressors. Their use of standard Imperial tactics, which Katarn had studied extensively at the Imperial Academy, gave them away. After seeing the footage for himself, Katarn defected, becoming a neutral mercenary. He left the Star of Empire with Ors and her fellow agents aboard their ship after a brief scuffle with some Imperials and a bounty hunter that worked for them. During this incident, the droid with the recordings of the battle on Sulon was captured and self-destructed, allowing Katarn and the others to make a clean escape. Ors took Katarn back to her base and introduced him to Mon Mothma, the leader of the Alliance, and he became a Rebel spy. Soon after his own recruitment into the Alliance, Katarn was responsible for introducing the Twi'lek Rianna Saren to the organization. He first tasked her with infiltrating a Black Sun warehouse on Coruscant to discover how they were involved with the Empire. After Saren successfully completed this mission, Katarn revealed to her that he was a Rebel agent and introduced her to Leia Organa. Personality and traits Kyle Katarn was a very complicated but good intentioned individual. Katarn appeared very self-confident and possessed an almost cynical dry sense of humor, but often doubted himself and always gave every choice a good deal of thought. He was an independent and free-thinking person, but at the same time his primary concern was always the safety and well-being of those he cared for. Katarn was also not one without fear, having a fear of death, and a fear of doing the wrong thing. Katarn's blend of personalities made him a promising cadet leader while at the Imperial academy. Sergeant Major Hong especially appreciated the young cadet's skills, admiring Katarn's rational approach to his assignments and his humility when asking the superior officer for advice. During his Omega Exercise, Katarn showed that his heart was softer than most other Imperials. He could not bring himself to order the execution of the Rebels his men had captured, instead choosing to let them go. Katarn later used his cynical sense of humor, reason, and concern for others to inspire his team when the mission went south. This enabled them to pull together and complete the mission. When Katarn learned the truth about his father Morgan's death, he underwent a dramatic change. He became bitter and developed a stronger hatred for the Empire. He accepted missions from the Alliance that were directed at the Empire to get the opportunity to personally kill Imperial agents and thwart their plans. He was no longer afraid of dying, but his fear of doing the wrong thing remained. While throwing himself into one death-defying situation after another, Katarn was always careful not to harm innocents and cared greatly for the safety of his partner Jan Ors. Ors considered Katarn reckless and saw his dare-devil attitude as a result of Katarn constantly wanting to impress others. During his years as a Rebel agent, Katarn was a lone wolf, who preferred to work on his own. Teamwork was, according to Ors, not one of his strengths. Although a powerful warrior, Katarn as a Jedi seemed to keep a low profile, being reluctant to embrace the Force itself. He repeatedly denied the ways of the Force, at one time going so far as to completely sever his own connection to it. The core of this reluctance was his fear of the dark side and distrust of his own motivation to use powers. He knew that deep inside, he was driven by a lust for revenge and hatred against those that killed his father. He knew all too well that hatred was an emotion fed by the dark side. He did call upon the dark side of the Force twice in the scramble for the Valley of the Jedi, as he had killed Maw in anger. It was after the Dromund Kaas incident that he severed the bonds with the Force completely. His motivation for reconnecting with the Force was ultimately also motivated by revenge, as he sought to avenge Ors, whom he thought had been killed. But even in his darkest hours there would always be some light inside him. More often than not, he would spare the lives of even his worst enemies. When he learned that Ors was not dead, Katarn changed. His hatred was replaced with hope, and his lust for revenge was replaced with compassion. Eventually, he came to accept his destiny as a Jedi Knight, arguing that no Force power is inherently dark or light, but that it fully depends on how and for what one uses it. Rather than being ashamed of his brushes with the dark side, he would openly share his experiences with his apprentices so that they would not make the same mistakes as he did. As time went on, his confidence increased and it was clear that whatever hesitancy he may have once had was long since gone. During his time as a member of the Jedi High Council he kept a low profile still, most of the time listening and gathering facts, instead of getting caught up in the passions of his fellow Masters. However it was noted that whenever he did speak, his comments were usually like a punch to the gut, in terms of how on point and honest they were. Katarn never liked to wear traditional Jedi robes, instead choosing to wear the clothes he wore in his mercenary days. He still wore them even at formal gatherings, such as funeral's. He didn't like to be referred to with titles like "Master Katarn," as titles made him uncomfortable, and preferred to be on a first name basis with his apprentices. In this way, he reflected the idea that he still felt a connection to the common people of the galaxy, and showing humility by preferring not to stand out. He was noted by Luke Skywalker to probably be the most politically astute of all the Masters on the Council. Powers and abilities Notes and references Category:Jedi Category:Males Category:Humans Category:Rebel Alliance members Category:Jedi Council members of the New Jedi Order Category:Jedi Masters of the New Jedi Order